Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid) is a branch of the
Bantoid language family. It consists of the
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...
along with several small branches and isolates of eastern
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
and west-central
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
(though the affiliation of some branches is uncertain). Since the Bantu languages are spoken across most of
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
, Southern Bantoid comprises 643 languages as counted by ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
'', though many of these are
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...
.
History
Southern Bantoid was first introduced by Williamson in a proposal that divided
Bantoid into North and South branches.
The unity of the North Bantoid group was subsequently called into question, and Bantoid itself may be
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...
, but the work did establish Southern Bantoid as a valid genetic unit, something that has not happened for (Narrow) Bantu itself.
Internal classification
According to Williamson and Blench, Southern Bantoid is divided into the various
Narrow Bantu languages,
Jarawan,
Tivoid,
Beboid,
Mamfe (Nyang),
Grassfields and
Ekoid families. The
Bendi languages are of uncertain classification; they have traditionally been classified with
Cross River, but they may actually be Southern Bantoid. Blench suggests that Tivoid, Momo (ex-Grassfields) and East Beboid may form a group, perhaps with the uncertain languages
Esimbi and
Buru–Angwe:
*?
Bendi
* Tivoid–Beboid:
Tivoid, ''
Esimbi'',
East Beboid, ? ''
Buru–Angwe'', ? ''
Menchum''
*
West Beboid (geographic)
*
Furu
*
Mamfe
* Ekoid–Mbe:
Ekoid, ''
Mbe''
*
Grassfields:
Ring,
Eastern Grassfields (Mbam–Nkam),
Momo, ? ''
Ndemli'',
Southwest Grassfields (Western Momo), ? ''
Ambele''
*
Narrow Bantu,
Jarawan–
Mbam
Grollemund (2012)
Classification of Southern Bantoid by Grollemund (2012):
[Grollemund, Rebecca. 2012. ]
Nouvelles approches en classification : Application aux langues bantu du Nord-Ouest
'. Ph.D Dissertation, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, 550 pp.
Numerals
Comparison of numerals in individual languages:
References
External links
ComparaLex database with Southern Bantoid word lists
{{Niger-Congo branches